Oil executives predict less EV growth than Biden wants

Oil executives surveyed by the Dallas Fed predict levels of electric car sales that would be far short of President Biden's goal of having cars with a plug make up half of U.S. sales by 2030.

Driving the news: The chart above shows responses to one of the bank's questions to oil-and-gas companies in their latest quarterly survey.

• The question to companies headquartered in the banks' region, which includes Texas, did specifically cite Biden's target.

Quick take: Crystal balls on energy transition are notoriously unreliable.

• But if nothing else, the answers suggest that the execs don't see a key source of oil demand — the U.S. transport sector — shifting as fast as EV advocates are hoping.

By the numbers: Here are a few more snapshots from the latest survey of roughly 140 companies as production continues growing after the pandemic-fueled decline...

• Oil-and-gas producers and oilfield services companies both report rising business costs (Bloomberg has more about that).
• Half of oil-and-gas support services firms report difficulty hiring workers.
• On average, the companies expect a West Texas Intermediate oil price of $70-per-barrel at year-end.
• 87% of respondents say their firms are not purchasing carbon credits or offsets.